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Blitz BASIC
open-in-new
<h2 id="history">History</h2> <p>The first iteration of the Blitz language was created for the <a href="/facts/Amiga/60B3A9of">Amiga</a> platform and published by the <a href="/facts/Australia/qLHpbppq">Australian</a> firm Memory and Storage Technology. Returning to <a href="/facts/New_Zealand/4mpSlJdg">New Zealand</a>, Blitz BASIC 2 was published several years later (around 1993 according this press release <a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3"><sup>3</sup></a>) by Acid Software, a local Amiga game publisher. Since then, Blitz compilers have been released on several <a href="/facts/Computing_platform/DmKwp5Bk">platforms</a>. Following the demise of the Amiga as a commercially viable platform, the Blitz BASIC 2 source code was released to the Amiga community. Development continues to this day under the name AmiBlitz.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:4" href="#fn:4"><sup>4</sup></a> </p> <h3>BlitzBasic</h3> <p><a href="/facts/Idigicon/MGM4N2pL">Idigicon</a> published BlitzBasic for <a href="/facts/Microsoft_Windows/bwhAhuSL">Microsoft Windows</a> in October 2000. The language included a built-in API for performing basic 2D graphics and audio operations. Following the release of Blitz3D, BlitzBasic is often synonymously referred to as Blitz2D. </p><p>Recognition of BlitzBasic increased when a limited range of "free" versions were distributed in popular UK computer magazines such as <i><a href="/facts/PC_Format/TnYkJDrm">PC Format</a></i>. This resulted in a legal dispute between the developer and publisher, which was eventually resolved amicably. </p> <h3>BlitzPlus</h3> <p>In February 2003, Blitz Research Ltd. released BlitzPlus also for Windows. It lacked the 3D engine of Blitz3D, but did bring new features to the 2D side of the language by implementing limited Windows control support for creating native <a href="/facts/Graphical_user_interface/wBlQFWDP">GUIs</a>. Backwards compatibility of the 2D engine was also extended, allowing compiled BlitzPlus games and applications to run on systems that might only have <a href="/facts/DirectX/jyy75wVN">DirectX</a> 1. </p> <h3>BlitzMax</h3> <p>The first BlitzMax compiler was released in December 2004 for <a href="/facts/Mac_OS_X/Y93vVpTm">Mac OS X</a>. This made it the first Blitz dialect that could be compiled on *nix platforms. Compilers for Microsoft Windows and <a href="/facts/Linux/9FvCKSTq">Linux</a> were subsequently released in May 2005. BlitzMax brought the largest change of language structure to the modern range of Blitz products by extending the type system to include object-oriented concepts and modifying the graphics API to better suit <a href="/facts/OpenGL/xQoMWePr">OpenGL</a>. BlitzMax was also the first of the Blitz languages to represent strings internally using <a href="/facts/UCS-2/7Tn6LPLw">UCS-2</a>, allowing native-support for string literals composed of non-<a href="/facts/ASCII/vGUI33Qu">ASCII</a> characters. </p><p>BlitzMax's platform-agnostic command-set allows developers to compile and run source code on multiple platforms. However the official compiler and build chain will only generate binaries for the platform that it is executing on. Unofficially, users have been able to get Linux and Mac OS X to cross-compile to the Windows platform. </p><p>BlitzMax is also the first <a href="/facts/Modular_programming/sNoqKvRD">modular</a> version of the Blitz languages, improving the extensibility of the command-set. In addition, all of the standard modules shipped with the compiler are open-source and so can be tweaked and recompiled by the programmer if necessary. The official BlitzMax <a href="/facts/Cross-platform/16zqdvNR">cross-platform</a> <a href="/facts/Graphical_user_interface/wBlQFWDP">GUI</a> module (known as MaxGUI) allows developers to write GUI interfaces for their applications on Linux (<a href="/facts/FLTK/a9R0RuQI">FLTK</a>), Mac (<a href="/facts/Cocoa_(API)/p10p5aFI">Cocoa</a>) and Windows. Various user-contributed modules extend the use of the language by wrapping such libraries as <a href="/facts/WxWidgets/TQvpa4Pl">wxWidgets</a>, <a href="/facts/Cairo_(graphics)/FuAWHozI">Cairo</a>, and <a href="/facts/Fontconfig/9Kmk5H9M">Fontconfig</a> as well as a selection of database modules. There are also a selection of third-party 3D modules available namely MiniB3D<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:5" href="#fn:5"><sup>5</sup></a> - an open-source OpenGL engine which can be compiled and used on all three of BlitzMax's supported platforms. </p><p>In October 2007, BlitzMax 1.26 was released which included the addition of a <a href="/facts/Reflection_(computer_programming)/Nj8stFfp">reflection</a> module.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:6" href="#fn:6"><sup>6</sup></a> BlitzMax 1.32 shipped new <a href="/facts/Thread_(computing)/hh8WHyPd">threading</a> and <a href="/facts/Lua_(programming_language)/xkBCgta0">Lua</a> scripting modules and most of the standard library functions have been updated so that they are <a href="/facts/Unicode/DDu3MfPV">unicode</a> friendly.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:7" href="#fn:7"><sup>7</sup></a> </p> <h3>Blitz3D SDK</h3> <p>Blitz3D SDK is a 3D graphics engine based on the engine in Blitz3D. It was marketed for use with <a href="/facts/C%252B%252B/Et0F2qn9">C++</a>, <a href="/facts/C_Sharp_(programming_language)/UC2gxeyb">C#</a>, BlitzMax, and <a href="/facts/PureBasic/kqqHK16W">PureBasic</a>, however it could also be used with other languages that follow compatible calling conventions. </p> <h3>Max3D module</h3> <p>In 2008, the source code to Max3D – a C++-based cross-platform 3D engine – was released under a <a href="/facts/BSD_license/XLtmLp5x">BSD license</a>. This engine focused on OpenGL but had an abstract backend for other graphics drivers (such as DirectX) and made use of several open-source libraries, namely <a href="/facts/Open_Asset_Import_Library/sAyJDn7y">Assimp</a>, <a href="/facts/Boost_(C%252B%252B_libraries)/vGLGG51A">Boost</a>, and <a href="/facts/Open_Dynamics_Engine/8739e20p">ODE</a>. </p><p>Despite the excitement in the Blitz community of Max3D being the eagerly awaited successor to Blitz3D, interest and support died off soon after the source code was released and eventually development came to a halt. There is no indication that Blitz Research will pick up the project again. </p> <h3>Open-source release</h3> <p>BlitzPlus was released as <a href="/facts/Open-source_software/HzTaB8E9">open-source</a> on 28 April 2014 under the <a href="/facts/Zlib_license/lyoPpsHD">zlib license</a> on <a href="/facts/GitHub/n1hNCsc3">GitHub</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:8" href="#fn:8"><sup>8</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:9" href="#fn:9"><sup>9</sup></a> Blitz3D followed soon after and was released as Open Source on 3 August 2014.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:10" href="#fn:10"><sup>10</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:11" href="#fn:11"><sup>11</sup></a> BlitzMax was later released as Open Source on 21 September 2015.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:12" href="#fn:12"><sup>12</sup></a> </p> <h2 id="reception">Reception</h2> <p>Blitz Basic 2.1 was well received by Amiga magazines. <i>CU Amiga</i> highlighted its ability to create <a href="/facts/AmigaOS/1E2k1fuN">AmigaOS</a> compliant applications and games (unlike <a href="/facts/AMOS_(programming_language)/mzJXlujy">AMOS Basic</a>)<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:13" href="#fn:13"><sup>13</sup></a> and <i>Amiga Shopper</i> called it a powerful programming language.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:14" href="#fn:14"><sup>14</sup></a> </p> <h2 id="examples">Examples</h2><p> A <a href="/facts/%2522Hello%2c_World!%2522_program/vLn0jLlL">"Hello, World!" program</a> that prints to the screen, waits until a key is pressed, and then terminates: </p>Print "Hello, World!" ; Prints to the screen. WaitKey() ; Pauses execution until a key is pressed. End ; Ends Program. <p>Program that demonstrates the declaration of variables using the three main data types (<a href="/facts/String_(computer_science)/4ChJu5WS">strings</a>, <a href="/facts/Integer_(computer_science)/zWabo5M9">integers</a> and <a href="/facts/Floating-point_arithmetic/eIckahxe">floats</a>) and printing them onto the screen:</p>name$ = "John" ; Create a string variable ($) age = 36 ; Create an integer variable (No Suffix) temperature# = 27.3 ; Create a float variable (#) print "My name is " + name$ + " and I am " + age + " years old." print "Today, the temperature is " + temperature# + " degrees." Waitkey() ; Pauses execution until a key is pressed. End ; Ends program. <p>Program that creates a windowed application that shows the current time in binary and decimal format. See below for the BlitzMax and BlitzBasic versions: </p> <table><tbody><tr><th>BlitzBasic version</th><th>BlitzMax version</th></tr><tr><td>AppTitle "Binary Clock"Graphics 150,80,16,3;create a timer that means the main loop will be;executed twice a secondsecondtimer=CreateTimer(2) Repeat Hour = Left(CurrentTime$(),2) Minute = Mid(CurrentTime$(),4,2) Second = Right(CurrentTime$(),2) If Hour >= 12 Then PM = 1 If Hour > 12 Then Hour = Hour - 12 If Hour = 0 Then Hour = 12 ;should do this otherwise the PM dot will be ;left up once the clock rolls past midnight! Cls Color(0,255,0) ;make the text green for the PM part If PM = 1 Then Text 5,5,"PM" ;set the text colour back to white for the rest Color(255,255,255) For bit=0 To 5 xpos=20*(6-bit) binaryMask=2^bit ;do hours If (bit<4) If (hour And binaryMask) Text xpos,5,"1" Else Text xpos,5,"0" EndIf EndIf ;do the minutes If (minute And binaryMask) Text xpos,25,"1" Else Text xpos,25,"0" EndIf ;do the seconds If (second And binaryMask) Text xpos,45,"1" Else Text xpos,45,"0" EndIf Next ;make the text red for the decimal time Color(255,0,0) Text 5,65,"Decimal: " + CurrentTime$() ;set the text back to white for the rest Color(255,255,255) ;will wait half a second WaitTimer(secondTimer)Forever</td><td>Import BRL.TimerImport BRL.TimerDefaultAppTitle = "Binary Clock"Graphics 145,85'create a timer that means the main loop will be'executed twice a secondLocal secondtimer:TTimer = CreateTimer(2)Local Hour:IntLocal Minute:IntLocal Second:IntLocal PM:Intlocal bit:Intlocal xpos:IntLocal binaryMask:IntRepeat Hour = CurrentTime()[..2].ToInt() Minute = CurrentTime()[4..6].ToInt() Second = CurrentTime()[6..].ToInt() If Hour >= 12 Then PM = 1 If Hour > 12 Then Hour = Hour - 12 If Hour = 0 Then Hour = 12 'should do this otherwise the PM dot will be 'Left up once the clock rolls past midnight! Cls SetColor(0,255,0) 'make the text green For the PM part If PM = 1 Then DrawText "PM",5,5 'set the text colour back To white For the rest SetColor(255,255,255) For bit=0 Until 6 xpos=20*(6-bit) binaryMask=2^bit 'do hours If (bit < 4) If (hour & binaryMask) DrawText "1",xpos,5 Else DrawText "0",xpos,5 EndIf EndIf 'do the minutes If (minute & binaryMask) DrawText "1", xpos,25 Else DrawText "0", xpos,25 EndIf 'do the seconds If (second & binaryMask) DrawText "1",xpos,45 Else DrawText "0",xpos,45 EndIf Next 'make the text red For the decimal time SetColor(255,0,0) DrawText "Decimal: " + CurrentTime(),5,65 'set the text back To white For the rest SetColor(255,255,255) Flip 'will wait half a second WaitTimer(secondTimer) If KeyHit(KEY_ESCAPE) Then ExitForever</td></tr></tbody></table> <h2 id="software-written-using-blitzbasic">Software written using BlitzBasic</h2> <ul><li><i><a href="/facts/Eschalon%3a_Book_I/e7DS1HXL">Eschalon: Book I</a></i> – BlitzMax</li> <li><i><a href="/facts/Eschalon%3a_Book_II/CznI9dtL">Eschalon: Book II</a></i> – BlitzMax</li> <li><i><a href="/facts/Fairway_Solitaire/qbqeHN4A">Fairway Solitaire</a></i> – BlitzMax</li> <li><i><a href="/facts/GridWars/42rv3omQ">GridWars</a></i> – BlitzMax</li> <li><i>TVTower (open source clone of MadTV)</i> – BlitzMax</li> <li><i><a href="/facts/Platypus_(video_game)/aHgK2VcA">Platypus</a></i> – Blitz2D (Mac port, BlitzMax)</li> <li><i><a href="/facts/SCP_%25E2%2580%2593_Containment_Breach/MHg3dFtw">SCP – Containment Breach</a></i> – Blitz3D</li> <li><i><a href="/facts/Worms_(1995_video_game)/knr2yRgN">Worms</a></i> – originally titled <i>Total Wormage</i> and developed in Blitz Basic on the Amiga before its commercial release<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:15" href="#fn:15"><sup>15</sup></a></li></ul> <h2 id="legacy">Legacy</h2> <p>In 2011, BRL released a cross-platform programming language called Monkey and its first official module called Mojo. Monkey has a similar syntax to BlitzMax, but instead of compiling direct to assembly code, it translates Monkey source files directly into <a href="/facts/Source_code/o9J6Jv23">source code</a> for a chosen language, framework or platform e.g. Windows, <a href="/facts/Mac_OS_X/Y93vVpTm">Mac OS X</a>, <a href="/facts/IOS/mK5cggH5">iOS</a>, Android, <a href="/facts/HTML5/HBAxEAr6">HTML5</a>, and <a href="/facts/Adobe_Flash/3Lrp9JuH">Adobe Flash</a>. </p><p>Since 2015 development of Monkey X has been halted in favour of Monkey 2, an updated version of the language by Mark Sibly. </p><p>The developer of Blitz BASIC, Mark Sibly, passed away in early December 2024.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:16" href="#fn:16"><sup>16</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:17" href="#fn:17"><sup>17</sup></a> </p> <h2 id="external-links">External links</h2> <ul><li><a href="https://blitzresearch.itch.io/">Blitz Research subsite</a> on <a href="/facts/Itch.io/Fhw1NfU3">itch.io</a> (BlitzPlus, Blitz 3D, Monkey X, Monkey 2) <ul><li><a href="https://blitzresearch.itch.io/monkeyx">Monkey X subsite</a> (open source)</li> <li><a href="https://blitzresearch.itch.io/monkey2">Monkey 2 subsite</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="https://github.com/blitz-research">blitz-research (Mark Sibly)</a> on <a href="/facts/GitHub/n1hNCsc3">GitHub</a> (BlitzPlus, BlitzMax, Blitz3D, Monkey, BlitzMax, Blitz3D for MSVC-CE 2017)</li> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170603205639/http://www.blitzbasic.com/">Blitz Research website</a> (archived 3 June 2017)</li> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170715134814/http://monkey-x.com/">Monkey X website</a> (archived 15 July 2017)</li></ul> <h2 id="references">References</h2> <ol> <li id="fn:1"><p>The word "Blitz" means "lightning" in German. <a href="https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blitz" target="_blank">https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blitz</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:2"><p>"The Official Blitz Website". blitzresearch.itch.io/. Archived from the original on 3 June 2017. <a href="https://blitzresearch.itch.io/" target="_blank">https://blitzresearch.itch.io/</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:3"><p>"Blitz Basic 2". AmigaReport. Archived from the original on 31 March 2022. Retrieved 30 April 2020. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220331051337/https://www.amigareport.com/ar115/p1-5.html" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20220331051337/https://www.amigareport.com/ar115/p1-5.html</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:4"><p>"AmiBlitz". GitHub. <a href="https://github.com/AmiBlitz" target="_blank">https://github.com/AmiBlitz</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:5"><p>"Blitz News". www.blitzbasic.com. Archived from the original on 26 January 2008. Retrieved 12 December 2007. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080126114117/http://www.blitzbasic.com/Community/topics.php?forum=119" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20080126114117/http://www.blitzbasic.com/Community/topics.php?forum=119</a> <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:6"><p>"BlitzMax update 1.26 now available!". www.blitzbasic.com. Archived from the original on 26 May 2011. Retrieved 11 January 2011. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110526130312/http://www.blitzbasic.com/Community/posts.php?topic=72891#814878" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20110526130312/http://www.blitzbasic.com/Community/posts.php?topic=72891#814878</a> <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:7"><p>BlitzMax V132 for Windows and MacIntel now up! Archived 26 May 2011 at the Wayback Machine on blitzbasic.com <a href="http://www.blitzbasic.com/Community/posts.php?topic=83917#947391" target="_blank">http://www.blitzbasic.com/Community/posts.php?topic=83917#947391</a> <a href="#fnref:7" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:8"><p>BlitzPlus Source Code Released Archived 16 July 2016 at the Wayback Machine by simonh (2014-04-29) <a href="http://www.blitzbasic.com/Home/_index_.php" target="_blank">http://www.blitzbasic.com/Home/_index_.php</a> <a href="#fnref:8" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:9"><p>Blitz3D open sourced! Archived 6 September 2016 at the Wayback Machine on Blitz3D Forums by (2014) <a href="http://www.blitzbasic.com/Community/posts.php?topic=102907" target="_blank">http://www.blitzbasic.com/Community/posts.php?topic=102907</a> <a href="#fnref:9" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:10"><p>Blitz3D Now Free and Open Source! Archived 16 July 2016 at the Wayback Machine by simonh (2014-08-03) <a href="http://www.blitzbasic.com/Home/_index_.php" target="_blank">http://www.blitzbasic.com/Home/_index_.php</a> <a href="#fnref:10" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:11"><p>blitz3d on GitHub <a href="https://github.com/blitz-research/blitz3d" target="_blank">https://github.com/blitz-research/blitz3d</a> <a href="#fnref:11" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:12"><p>blitzmax on GitHub <a href="https://github.com/blitz-research/blitzmax" target="_blank">https://github.com/blitz-research/blitzmax</a> <a href="#fnref:12" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:13"><p>Bettinson, Mat (March 1996). "Blitz Basic 2.1". CU Amiga. No. 73. EMAP Images. pp. 69–70. ISSN 0963-0090. <a href="/wiki/ISSN_(identifier)" target="_blank">/wiki/ISSN_(identifier)</a> <a href="#fnref:13" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:14"><p>Overaa, Paul (April 1996). "Blitz Basic 2.1". Amiga Shopper. No. 61. Future Publishing. p. 41. ISSN 0961-7302. <a href="/wiki/ISSN_(identifier)" target="_blank">/wiki/ISSN_(identifier)</a> <a href="#fnref:14" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:15"><p>IGN. Worms Blast Preview Archived 18 February 2007 at the Wayback Machine on ign.com <a href="http://uk.ps2.ign.com/articles/136/136825p1.html" target="_blank">http://uk.ps2.ign.com/articles/136/136825p1.html</a> <a href="#fnref:15" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:16"><p>GCRedditor136 (12 December 2024). "Mark Sibly, creator of BlitzBasic, has died :(". r/amiga. Retrieved 24 March 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/amiga/comments/1hciyzy/mark_sibly_creator_of_blitzbasic_has_died/?rdt=64869" target="_blank">https://www.reddit.com/r/amiga/comments/1hciyzy/mark_sibly_creator_of_blitzbasic_has_died/?rdt=64869</a> <a href="#fnref:16" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:17"><p>"Mark Sibly (Blitz Basic) passes away". Amiga-News.de. 14 December 2024. Retrieved 24 March 2025. <a href="https://www.amiga-news.de/en/news/AN-2024-12-00066-EN.html" target="_blank">https://www.amiga-news.de/en/news/AN-2024-12-00066-EN.html</a> <a href="#fnref:17" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> </ol>